


colors melting in all amber shades

by waterleveldropping



Category: Persona 5
Genre: F/M, Future Fic, M/M, Marriage, Mentions of Sucidal ideation, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:35:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26362780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waterleveldropping/pseuds/waterleveldropping
Summary: It was solemn to think back on those memories, but he guessed humans would always be bad at keeping in touch, no matter if you had solved crimes as a group of thieves in a parallel world. Akira was more than happy to have Goro and Sumire by his side, and that was enough.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira/Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist/Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi
Comments: 11
Kudos: 76
Collections: 21 plus akeshuake server events





	colors melting in all amber shades

**Author's Note:**

> written for the 21+ shuakeshu server minibang!
> 
> i had the absolute pleasure of working with charlyvonkarma for this minibang, the art they drew for this fic seriously made me cry. i've included the art at the end of the fic, and you can find the link to the piece on twitter [here!](https://twitter.com/coffeeforcharly/status/1303428415006150659)

> _Even though my heart is_
> 
> _hopeless beyond repair--_
> 
> _I'll go onwards; I'll_
> 
> _walk along with you_

_Kenshi Yonezu, “Vivi”_

If Akira had to explain his life to his 16 year-old self right now, he wouldn’t know where to begin. 

The tracks of the shinkansen make almost no sound as they barrel through the countryside just outside of Tokyo. Akira thinks about the last time he had taken the trip out to the boonies, when he’d moved away after the blur of a year that had been 2017, promised he’d be back through tears and tight hugs and goodbyes that came too soon. 

And, to his own surprise as much as everyone else’s, he had. He had come back to Tokyo the following summer, stayed in the same attic above Leblanc, worked the same job, kept the company of the same friends. And, when it came time to decide on where his life would go after he’d graduated highschool, it came as no surprise to his parents that he picked a university in Tokyo and moved himself and Morgana out there; back to where he felt he belonged. 

“Feels weird to not be getting off here,” Akira remarks as the train makes its first and only stop. If it were ten years prior, Akira would transfer at this station to board the train back to his family’s house in the country. 

Goro shifts in the seat next to him. “We were just there for new year, I’m sure they can survive until Golden Week,” he replies. 

“Goro-san can only take so much of your family’s enthusiasm,” Sumire smiles from across the row. 

“Enthusiasm is certainly one way to put it,” Akira snorts.

Goro presses a finger to his temple. “They are just very… _lively_ in ways I’ve always had trouble keeping pace with,” Goro settles on with a huff. Akira knows that both him and Sumire enjoy visiting Akira’s family, but with the size of them, anyone would be intimidated. 

“Feels like you’re letting them off a little too easy,” Akira smiles, his head leans back against the window as the train starts to move again. 

“Don’t be rude now!” Sumire chides. “I already miss your nieces and nephews, and I think it’s nice to be somewhere so full of life,” she giggles, eyes settling on Goro. “Plus, the way your Grandmother treats Goro-san, you’d think she likes him more than you, Akira.” 

“Nah, I’ll always be her favorite,” Akira replies, only a little proud. 

Akira’s relationship with his grandmother has always been a close one. She was the one who kept him from doing anything too reckless and impulsive (is starting an underground group of crime-fighting teens reckless?) during his teenage years, and the one who encouraged him to move to Tokyo permanently. He owes her a lot, but he’s thankful that he has the family he does. For all Goro gripes, he knows how important having that community can be, and is glad he can provide that for him. 

The fields and rice paddies roll past as Akira thinks on times gone by, when he wouldn’t have even had the luxury of introducing his partners to his family. He lost contact with Goro for over a year after he left Tokyo the first time. There were nights he couldn’t sleep, sending text messages to a disconnected number and checking anywhere he could online for a sign of him. There were days he was convinced what he saw from the train window that day was a hallucination, a want manifested. So too were there weeks Akira knew for certain Akechi Goro was still alive; and he kept that glove until the leather was cracked from squeezing too tight and the hope that they’d have their rematch hanging on by the loose threads of it. 

In the end, it was Sumire who found him. Towards the end of his second summer in Tokyo, he heard the bell above Leblanc’s door ring, expected to have to tell a customer they were closed, and saw Goro Akechi standing there, alive as anything. 

His first time hearing Goro’s voice in so long. “Did you record it?” Goro had asked Sumire, who popped out from behind him, waving her phone triumphantly. “I got the whole thing! You should’ve seen your face, Senpai!” 

And that was how it had started, he supposed. Goro had been moving across the city in apartments Sae had helped him rent, never staying in one place too long. In those last days of summer though, Goro all but abandoned his small apartment for the even smaller space above Leblanc. They had a lot of catching up to do, after all. Slowly but surely, Sumire joined them, and at the end of the summer Goro threatened to break up with both of them if Akira didn’t switch to a full sized bed with an actual bed frame, not milk crates. Akira could never fully tell when Goro was joking, so he bought the bed just in case. 

Ten years was a long time. Ten years in Tokyo, seven since they’d gotten married (or the closest they could legally come), four since they’d bought a proper house just outside the city, and now, six months into Sumire’s pregnancy. She'd been the one who suggested the trip in the first place, it had been her turn to pick the first trip they took in the new year and she’d been getting antsy cooped up at home anyway. Goro had protested, saying that this late into the pregnancy it would be too tiring for Sumire to take a trip away from home, but Akira and her had both calmed his nerves eventually. He always was overprotective of her.

She’d settled on Okinawa eventually. Making the trip in the off-season meant that the beaches would be less crowded and the spots usually packed full of tourists rendered mostly empty. Akira remembered they’d been once before, all the thieves had gone to celebrate Futaba’s recovery and her joining the group. But back then it had been the heat of summer, and only a day trip. 

“We should’ve invited Futaba too,” Akira muses. “Her and her Miyabi-san work too hard. They deserve a break.” 

“She would’ve refused. You know Miyabi makes her spend the first week of the new year cleaning,” Goro replies. 

Sumire grins. “I’m not sure how well that’s going.”

Akira raises an eyebrow.

She holds up her phone in response. “I got a notification an hour ago that she was live on stream…” 

To say Akira had kept contact with the rest of the phantom thieves wouldn’t entirely be the truth. They had simply… drifted apart, as teenage friend groups do. At first they had gotten together a couple times a year for holidays, then once a year, and eventually even that became hard to keep up.

It wasn’t for lack of trying, but Ann was usually abroad where her work took her, Ryuji had moved much further away and with his mother ill, making long trips away from home was a risk he had to consider. Yusuke sent out invitations to art shows he helped curate then and again, and the few of them still in the country made the trips when they could. Makoto hadn’t spoken to Akira since he had gotten married, but Sumire still talked to Haru on occasion, and Goro kept in touch with Sae. 

Futaba was the only one they really saw consistently. She was living with her girlfriend, Miyabi, and their roommates in an apartment near downtown Tokyo. She had really thrown herself into her work these past few years, but always made time to visit on long weekends to harass her uptight older brother. Any time Akira missed her he could just pop into one of her and Miyabi’s gaming streams anyway.

It was solemn to think back on those memories, but he guessed humans would always be bad at keeping in touch, no matter if you had solved crimes as a group of thieves in a parallel world. Akira was more than happy to have Goro and Sumire by his side, and that was enough. 

Speaking of Sumire, she had fallen asleep with her head against the window, and Goro stood up to move next to her. He leaned her head on his shoulder instead, the heavy coat providing more padding than the cold glass. She made a sound of appreciation and smiled softly. Eventually, Goro fell asleep with his head against Sumire’s and Akira switched his phone onto silent to take a picture; if the text message notification on Futaba’s phone interrupted her stream, well, Akira was only a little sorry. 

* * *

When they get off the train at Okinawa, the first thing Sumire notices is how cold it is. She had come a few times with her family when she and Kasumi were young, but always in summertime. Goro’s hand finds her as the three start up the stairs, and doesn’t let go even when they’re in the backseat of the taxi to their ryokan. She smiles and laces their fingers and Goro looks out the window, pretends his heart doesn’t skip a beat at it.

The inn is small, cozy, warm. The old woman who runs it shows them to their room. Goro had booked a room with the Christmas bonus he’d been given, and the suite came with a small personal onsen off to the side of the room. It was private enough, and the three of them could just fit comfortably in it’s small frame. They put their things down and Akira waits while Goro helps Sumire shower before the bath. 

“Turn around.” Goro says softly, rubbing shampoo into Sumire’s short hair and making sure to keep it out of her eyes. He’s always so gentle with her, and it means the world when she’s seen firsthand how brutal he’s capable of being. The feeling of his fingers on her scalp and the warm water is so soothing after the cold weather, and she lets herself relax into it. He presses a kiss to her neck and brings the shower head close to rinse the soap from her hair. 

She towels him off afterwards, making sure to take care around the scars below his chest. They’re mostly faded now, but Sumire knows he’s sensitive about them regardless. Her red hair is much shorter now, and she wraps it in a towel for the time being. 

Akira switches with them as Sumire sits down on the edge of the bed. 

“Ann-senpai is in Indonesia this week.” Sumire remarks. The picture of Ann and Mika smiles back at her from her social media feed. 

“She’s always off somewhere.” Goro replies, not looking up from his phone. “Just last month she sent me a box of candies from France.” 

Sumire tilts her head back onto the pillows, closes her eyes. “Maybe we could take a trip there one day.” 

“France?” He asks. “I’ve been once. It’s nothing too special. A lot of… old buildings, mostly.”

“Mm,” she nods. “It sounds nice. Next year we’ll have to be planning trips as a full fledged family, won’t we?” 

He turns to face her in bed. “Don’t you think it’s a little early to be taking her to foreign countries?” she pushes his wet hair out of his face while he talks. “Would probably be better to wait until she can actually remember any of it.” 

“You’re probably right,” Sumire hums. “Maybe just Destinyland for her birthday then.” 

“Ann’s going to try to visit in a couple months. When you’re in the hospital.” 

“That’s sweet of her.”

“She keeps asking what toys to get the baby,” Goro sighs. “How would I know? She doesn’t even have a separate body yet, let alone preferences for a favorite Featherman.” 

“It’s going to be Red Hawk,” Sumire supplies. “We’ll make sure of it.”

Ann is probably the other former thief they talk to most. She moves around frequently, but her and Shiho invite the three of them over to their apartment whenever they’re in Tokyo. It’s nice to have those old bonds, Sumire thinks, even when everyone is spread out like this.

When she gets to see her old school friends, it sometimes feels like he never stopped being those same kids. She knows Akira and Goro feel differently-- they all have their own reservations and rightfully so-- but she’s happy whenever Ann sends her a good morning text, or Ryuji tags her in a picture on social media. For her, it’s those small things that add up to make it still feel like a community. 

Akira gets out of the shower, dripping water all over the carpet, and Goro scolds him. She giggles as her husband claims that they’re ‘just going to get back into the bath, why does it matter’ if he’s wet. Sumire calms them down as she always has, and they make their way to the small connected onsen. 

The large balcony holds a small shower for rinsing, an onsen just big enough for three, and a wonderful view of the mountains. It’s barely evening and the few rays of sun that are left are still trying to poke their heads over the trees in pink and purple hues. Sumire sheds her towel, folding it and placing it on the provided rack. Akira and Goro allow her to step in first as a courtesy, Goro holding her hand as she steps in. She quickly relaxes into the warm water, motioning both of them in after her. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever been to an onsen with boys,” she remarks with a smile. “I don’t mind it as much as I thought I would.”

“It probably helps that you’re married to said boys,” Akira snorts, stepping in himself. “Just a guess though.” 

“A pretty good guess,” She replies. When she’d had longer hair, she’d have to tie it into a tight bun whenever her and her family visited an onsen. Now, with her hair cut short, it’s just another thing she’s stopped having to think about. 

Since then, she’s changed so much. More than she thought possibly, frankly. 

There were times when Sumire Yoshizawa felt like she couldn’t possibly have a future. After Kasumi, she was sure she couldn’t. She’d hung on, told herself just one more day, one more month, one more year. Eventually, she stopped having to count the years, and allowed herself to enjoy the luxuries of time passed. 

She looks out over the view as Goro and Akira banter beside her. They mean the world to her, and she knows they feel the same about her. They are her future now, and she’s theirs. 

The sun finally fully sinks behind the bend of the mountains, and she’s glad younger Sumire held out to see it.

They step out eventually, towel off, pull on sweatpants. The bed fits three of them comfortably, a far cry from the twin bed in the attic they used to squeeze themselves into. 

Eventually, warm kisses, leading to gentle words and even gentler sex. She falls asleep with Goro and Akira on either side of her, the rise and fall of their chests her favorite lullaby.

* * *

It’s colder out this morning than yesterday. Akira swears it’s just because they’re by the seaside, but Goro makes sure they all take a scarf to be safe. He doesn’t know when exactly he became so domestic, but he assumed Sumire had everything to do with it. 

The beach is calm, grey clouds hiding what little of the sun tries to peek through. With the constant push and pull of the waves, it’s incredibly relaxing.

Relaxing, as a concept, still eludes Goro sometimes. He’s not entirely sure what a clear mind looks like, really. Though, when he watches Akira and Sumire walk in front of him hand in hand, he figures that’s probably the closest definition he can give.

“Goro-san, we have to stop by these rocks to take pictures,” Sumire is showing him a photo she’s pulled up on her phone of what, Goro assumes, is a spot along the beach. 

“Yes, we’ll go. Only if Akira and you both promise to stay firmly on the ground,” Goro replies. 

Akira sighs dramatically next to him. “I twist my ankle one time--”

“If you want to get yourself in trouble, be my guest. Some of us need to be more careful at the moment,” Goro bites back.

They end up walking along the shore, Goro helping Sumire down the wooden steps down to the sand. Akira, annoyingly, photographs almost every time the two of them so much as hold hands, changing his phone lock screen multiple times a week. Goro won’t pretend that his lock screen isn’t the same picture of Akira and Sumire it has been for the past two years, but will probably lie about it if asked directly. 

If Sumire was unsure about her chance at a future, Goro was almost certain about his lack of one. Akira Kurusu had turned that around for him, despite Goro’s protests, and reached out his hand, continuing to reach long after Goro had turned away. 

He was gone for a year after 2017. Longer, honestly. The only person he kept in contact with was Niijima, trying to figure out how to pick up the parts of his life he cast aside in his determination for revenge. Still, Akira didn’t pull back his hand.

Back then, Goro Akechi never liked to think on what would happen after her ruined his bastard father, but suicide was always the unspoken answer hanging over him. Then Akira Kurusu happened. Then, he saved the world with the same people he had been trying to take down. And then, he was presumed dead by probably the only person in the world who didn’t want him to be.

Makoto having left for college, Sae convinced Goro to stay in her old room those first few awful months after the world didn’t end. He would have to find somewhere else to be whenever Makoto returned home for holidays, and eventually he didn’t come back, finding himself the cheapest apartment he could a little outside of the city, and slowly learning to be a person again. 

Futaba found him first. Of course she did. Maybe he stayed so close to Tokyo to allow her to-- if he had, he would never admit to it. Futaba promised not to tell anyone of his whereabouts, Ann showed up at his front door less than a week later. Finally, just as Goro was looking at apartments at least two hours outside of the city, Sumire Yoshizawa knocked at his door in tears. 

“You alright?” came a voice from next to him, the same small voice that had been at his door all those years ago. Sumire linked her arm with Goro’s, smiling up at him. “You’ve been quiet.”

“Yeah, you didn’t even have anything to say about what Featherman our daughter’s going to be into,” Akira took Goro’s other arm and linked it with Akira’s own. 

“That’s because it’s not a question. Red Hawk.” Goro sighs. 

“See, I’m pretty sure she’d be a Grey Pigeon fan.” Akira replies, so sure of himself.

“Please, with his writing in the original? I’m still astounded that you two like him as much as you do.”

Sumire giggles. “His writing in the remake was good and you know it!” she chimes in. 

Eventually, they do find the rocks Sumire had been talking about. The three of them kick their shoes off and step onto the cold sand, dipping their toes into the push and pull of the waves. It’s freezing in mid-January, but the cold isn’t unwelcome. It feels refreshing, and a good start to a new year with Sumire and Akira at his side. 

Goro takes pictures until Akira grabs him and carries him bridal style into the ocean, at least up to where Akira’s rolled up pants will allow him to go without getting completely soaked. 

“ _Kurusu_ \-- Kurusu put me down!--” Goro yells as Sumire laughs from the shore.

“Really? If you _insist_ ,” Akira says and Goro shrieks as he pretends to drop him into the freezing water. 

Goro slaps Akira enough to make him complain about bruising for the next week, and eventually trudges them out of the water, placing his husband safely on the sand. 

“You’re very ruthless, you know,” Akira says, rubbing his cheek.

“And you’re an asshole,” Goro replies as Sumire laughs and takes a seat next to him on the sand. 

Akira eventually joins them, burying his feet in the cool sand and staring out over the wide Pacific ocean. So much time has passed since he stared out over that same view, so many people have come and gone from his life, and so much growing up in between it all. 

He thinks his 16 year-old self would be proud of him. 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you again to charly for drawing, and crimes for organizing the entire event! this was my first time participating in a big/minibang, thank you for making the experience so wonderful ^^ it was a joy to write these three again, too. be sure to check out the other fics in this collection, theres so many good ones with amazing art! 
> 
> thanks for reading, comments are appreciated! <3


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